Bradford City have won all three of their competitive matches this season: 2-0 at home to Rochdale in the previous round of the League Cup, 2-0 against Peterborough United, and 1-0 away at Sheffield Wednesday last Thursday. Burnley arrive having lost 3-1 at West Bromwich Albion on Sunday, a result that took the shine off a busy summer.
Nicky Hayen did not soften it afterwards. "I think we didn't have the energy, desire and hunger of the home team," the Burnley head coach said. "We had problems and no solutions. I didn't expect this." He called the afternoon an eye-opener for everyone, himself included. Burnley led early through an own goal, were pegged back inside 18 minutes and then lost the second half to an Isaac Price brace, the second from the penalty spot.
They played it without Zian Flemming, the striker who had rescued a point against West Ham United the previous weekend with two late goals and who was missing at the Hawthorns through injury. Coventry City, Leeds United and Brentford have all been linked with him, and Hayen has been open that keeping him is now harder. "I've said the way we play suits him so maybe it's the best choice for him to stay because he can be even more important than before …," he said of the 28-year-old, signed from Millwall for £7m last summer.
The squad around him keeps growing. Gregoire Coudert, a 27-year-old goalkeeper who played 26 times for Brest last season, became Burnley's sixth summer signing on a four-year deal last Wednesday and arrives to challenge Max Weiss for the shirt. A cup tie in League One is exactly where a manager finds out what the new ones are worth.